


The Nobody

by thealmightyfoo



Category: Captain Underpants Series - Dav Pilkey
Genre: Angst, M/M, Yet another angsty au, based on tawog, hehe, ill tag later, uhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-31 22:05:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17857814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealmightyfoo/pseuds/thealmightyfoo
Summary: Harold messes up Melvin's newest invention. Things go very wrong.





	1. Chapter 1

Melvin leaned back in his chair and sighed. His latest invention was finally complete. He'd been working on it off and on throughout the school year. It was a rather hefty project, and took a lot of time and effort to complete. 

Melvin grinned, admiring his machine. _And it was worth it._

He got up out of his chair and ran his fingers along the side of it, stopping when he reached the handle on the entryways door. Peering in through the window in it, he looked at all the buttons on the control panel. He couldn't wait to press every one of them. Sighing, he put both hands on the car-like invention and rested his freckled cheek upon the door. 

"I've worked on you so long, my dear _Reality-Warpertron 2000_...And soon, your time will come..." Melvin kissed the window, and it wasn't until his dad appeared in the doorway did he seperate his face from his machine. 

"I, uh, your mother made meatloaf." Gaylord Sneedly said quietly, unsure of what he had walked in on. 

His son looked at him, not pleased at being interrupted.  
"DAD! Don't you know how to _knock??_ "

The two were quiet for a few moments, until Mr Sneedly spoke again. 

"Isn't tonight the night you study with that young boy and his friend? The kid with the fluffy blonde hair and the other with the tie?" He asked. 

Melvin narrowed his yellow and cyan eyes. "Yes, Dad, I'm supposed to study with those two broken picture frames so they don't fail and they can go to summer camp."  
He crossed his arms. "Why? Are they here? Please don't say yes."

Gaylord said nothing. Melvin groaned and stepped away from his project. 

He entered the kitchen to find George and Harold sitting at the table. They both were eating Mrs Sneedly's meatloaf. Well, _George_ was. Harold, on the other hand, was acting like he hadn't eaten in years. Cindy didnt mind though. She quite enjoyed cooking meatloaf. 

Harold stopped mutilating meat for a moment to see who had entered the room and made eye contact with Melvin. The two tended to stare into each other's eyes a lot, as they were the only two people they knew with heterochromia--Melvin's eyes, as mentioned before, are yellow and cyan, while Harold's are green and blue. 

Realizing he had been staring, Melvin blinked, face darkening ever so slightly, and cleared his throat. 

"Hutchins. Beard." He addressed the two. 

"Hi, Melvin, " they greeted him back. 

He sat at the table and placed a large book in front of him, shoving his food aside. 

"Now, how much of this technology textbook have you two read?"

They exchanged glances. "Does the cover count?" George asked, earning a frustrated growl from his tutor. 

"Have either of you read a textbook in your lives?"

They shook their heads, in unison. Another groan. 

"No wonder you're doing so badly, " Melvin sighed, pinching his nose. He slid out of his chair and started to walke off before stopping and gesturing for the other boys to follow. They shrugged and left their seats, grabbing a piece of meatloaf for the journey. 

The three entered Melvin's room, and were immediately awestruck by the large machine by his bed. 

"Woah, what is _that?_ " George asked, eyes wide with curiosity. 

Melvin pushed him away from it. "None of your business, you empty tuna can. Move along, by textbooks are over here."

He grabbed Harold as well, pulling him to the other side of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, simple-twins--" Melvin started, but was interrupted. 

"Don't you mean _simpletons_?" Harold asked. 

"Yeah," agreed George, "if you're gonna insult us, do it right."

"I did do it right. Simple. Twins."

George and Harold stared blankly. 

" _Anyway_ ," Melvin continued, "we'll start with something simple. In the blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah...."

George and Harold, naturally, zoned out as soon as he started talking. And naturally, they quickly hatched a plan to see what that machine was. George focused back on Melvin. 

"Sitting here and watch you talk for hours is fun, but I have ADHD."

"And I'm autistic. What's your point?"

"You're au--?" 

"I have a hard time just listening to stuff and expecting to know and memorize it," George continued, "So I thought we could try a more hands on approach."

Harold knew that was his cue. "And we know you, as the most amazing inventor ever, have plenty of stuff to demonstrate with!"

Melvin smiled smugly. "Well, if it helps you learn better...I suppose I have a few brilliant machines around here I could use!"

The two boys smiled at each other, and George pointed at the huge machine in the middle of the bedroom. 

"What about that one?"

Melvin eyed it nervously. " I don't know, that one's a little advanced...and expensive."

George punched him playfully on the shoulder (earning a yelp). "Aw, c'mon Melvie! I'm sure you can make ANYTHING sound simple!"

'Melvie' rubbed his arm. "Ow. I guess I could try, " He starts walking to the Reality Warper, but pauses and looks back for a moment, "and don't call me that."

He climbed into the cockpit started pressing buttons, grinning when they lit up with each touch. Finally, he was going to get to test this baby! 

Yawning, Melvin flicked switches and pressed more buttons. Looking at his watch, he saw it was only 8:00 PM. Why was he so tired? Maybe he'd actually been excited to teach those two gremlins that he didn't feel his insomnia pulling at his feet. And it seemed it was finally tugging hard enough for him to notice. 

He looked at all the controls. His vision was beginning to get blurry, so he removed his glasses to clean them. Not able to find his wipes, the sleep - deprived child glanced around the small room. He bent over to look on the ground, and promptly passed out, hitting more buttons on his way down.


	3. Chapter 3

George and Harold had been watching Melvin from the window, and gasped when he passed out. Was that part of the process?? Harold looked to George, who shrugged. He looked back at the door, hesitated for a moment, and opened the door. 

Harold looked at all the buttons, and down at Melvin. Why can't he label anything??? He frantically slapped buttons and pulled levers, trying to shut down the machine before it did anything. 

"Uh, Harold? It's starting to smoke!"

"I, um, I almost got it! I think? Why are there so many buttons?!"

The machine began to tremble, and buttons started to pop out of place. 

"Harold?"

"Almost! Just a few..."

" _Harold?_ "

"More buttons..."

" _HAROLD!!_ "

George reached into the smoky cockpit and grabbed Harold by the arm and pulled him out. 

The Reality Warpertron 2000 shook and sparked, before eventually exploding, then imploding. 

The two looked where the machine was. Harold's eyes watered. Did they just kill Melvin? 

A few seconds later, the destroyed remains of the contraption reappeared, shrouded in smoke. Harold immediately ran into the smoke cloud, and George followed. 

"Melvin? Are you okay? I'm so--"

He cut himself off when he saw Melvin, laying on the ground, flecks of blood on the wreckage around him. 

"He's dead. We killed him!" George threw his hands up and slouched. 

"Wait!" Harold held a hand to George, and pointed to Melvin. "He's breathing!"

Before they could get any closer, the other boy started to stir, slowly pushing himself up with his arms. He looked up at Harold, eyes wide. 

George and Harold cringed. Melvin's glasses were cracked, and one of the lenses was almost completely missing. Part of his hair seemed to float seperate from the rest. His arms and legs displayed static, one of his hands looked like out was from an old video game, and one of his feet looked like wireframe. He looked up at the boys, his cyan eye glitches. 

"What...did...you...do...?" He asked, slowly and quietly. 

Slowly, he shakily stood up. "What. Did. You..."

George plugged his ears, and Harold lowered himself. 

" _DO??!!_ "

Harold gulped. "I don't know! You passed out so I tried to turn off the machine!"

Melvin growled, and hissed through sharp teeth.   
" _WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP?!_

" I panicked! And I figured that you probably needed that sleep!"

Looking down at his hands, Melvin's body glitches as he jumped, startled. "What did you do to me?!" 

"That machine must've broken you!" George took a step back. 

" _Broken_ me?! It's warped my body! I barely physically exist anymore!"

"Like I said, broken. Which means you can fix it right?"

The anger on Melvin's face was replaced with fear. COULD he fix this? 

"I...I don't know. I'll probably be stuck like this f..forever."

He looks up at them again, eyes and static glowing. 

"And it's all you two's fault!"

Looking at Harold, and narrowed his eyes. "Especially yours!"

"I'm sorry, Melvin! I didn't mean to break your machine! I'm sure I can do something for you! Anything!"

"Anything?"

Harold nodded quickly. 

"In that case...I'd like you to RUN!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An edit! Changing the title of the fic to better match the story. Still the name of a tawog ep involving Rob, though!

George and Harold ran, screaming. However, they were only halfway down the hallway when George stopped. Harold turned to see why, and crashed into a wall. 

"He's not following us," George pointed out. Why was that? Melvin had told them to run, surely that meant he was going to chase them, right? 

"What's up with that?" asked Harold, after making sure he hadnt hurt his face. 

George shrugged, and gestured for Harold to follow him back into the bedroom. 

Melvin was on his bed, sitting on the edge, slouched over. He looked up when the two troublemakers re-entered the room, scowling. His freckled cheeks were stained with tears. 

"What do you two want?" He asked, quietly, as if he didn't have the strength to yell. 

"You didn't follow us, which is kinda weird since you said to run." George answered, lowering his voice to match Melvin's volume. 

"I told you to to run because I wanted you to [I]leave[/I]." Melvin hissed. 

The simple-twins exchanged glances, and Harold stepped forward. Melvin scooted away. This continued until Melvin was pressed against the wall with Harold sitting next to him. 

"I'm just scared." Melvin whispered, dropping his hostile expression. "What if I...disappear?"

Harold frowned, then wrapped an arm around Melvin. He felt tingly, like when you put your hands next to an old tv and you can feel the static like a layer on the screen. 

"I--we, we won't let that happen." Harold assured him. George nodded in agreement. 

"But why? All I do is cause trouble for you two. I thought you'd be...relieved. Everyone would be."

"What?! Dude, that's crazy! No one wants you to...disappear!" George hesitated, avoiding using the other "D" word. 

"Yeah, you can be annoying, and snobby, and, well, a nerd, but you're still a kid like us! Who cares that you value your grades more than, like, everyone else at school? It just shows that you're, uh..." Harold had trouble putting his advice into words. "More mature and putt together? I dunno, I was going somewhere with that but got to the conclusion faster than I could--"

"I know what you mean." Melvin interrupted. "And it means a lot coming from you two." He glitched slightly as he smiled at the two. Harold hugged him tightly, and received a hug in return. 

They separated, and Melvin looked away. "You really mean it?" He almost refused to believe that anyone could really actually like him. Well, other than the teachers. But even Krupp didn't really like him. He used him more than anything. "After everything I've done?"

"Yes!" Harold said dramatically, leaning on the other in a half hug. "We really mean it."

George smiled and nodded. "I mean, you saved us and abandoned your mean future self. So you've GOTTA be nice somewhere deep down."

Melvin returned the smile and wiped away his tears. They really cared about him. He hugged back into Harold, grateful to finally have true friends.


End file.
